Protection and real wages: The neoclassical ambiguity

International trade, real wages, and technical progress: The specific-factors model

“…In Ruffin and Jones (1977) it was argued that real wages would tend to fall if a country levied a tariff on imports. The reasoning established a presumption, not a certainty, and rested on two assumptions: (i) Taste patterns for laborers were similar to that for the economy as a whole, and (ii) The imported good was produced locally with a degree of flexibility in labor demand and intensity of labor usage that were typical of the economywide average.…”

Commercial Policy with Altruistic Voters

“…Each sector produces output with specific (immobile) capital and mobile labor. I let labor be unbiased in the sense of Jones and Ruffin (1977) so that it neither gains nor loses from a small tariff. Since 3 This conclusion hinges on the standard assumption that tariff proceeds are redistributed in lump-sum fashion.…”

“…consider a production structure such that, using the terminology of Ruffin and Jones (1977), labor is "unbiased" so that it neither gains nor loses from a small tariff whose revenues are rebated in lump sum fashion.…”

Who is Better Able to Get Protection?

“…It has been argued (in Ruffin and Jones, 1977) that in the specific factor model there is a presumption that if workers' tastes are similar to those of others and if the protected sector is similar in factor intensities and substitution characteristics with the national average, workers will find that protection harms the real wage. So why should labor be willing to urge protection for the labor-intensive sector?…”